June Calendar Journal

The end of May is just a few days away, so I've been very good and got my pages finished nice and early.  On the left is a depiction of a Neolithic temple, Maltese style for our holiday while the rising sun on the right side represents the summer solstice or longest day.  These are my favourite pages so far.

Chunky 7: Seventh Heaven

I took a break from Chunky ATC's and didn't do the sixth swap as I was busy, but couldn't resist coming back for number 7 even though I was even busier - they are soo addictive!

My swappee's idea of seventh heaven was being able to be selfish, but she left it open to interpretation.  I happen to think that being selfish can be positive and healthy, after all you've got to take care of your own needs and be able to put your self first sometimes! 

I used the four sides of the chunky for positive affirmations, and added a beautiful big resin flower on top to remind her that you have to 'take time to smell the flowers' sometimes.  I just hope she likes it, as it didn't turn out quite the way I saw it in my head when I started, and I couldn't get my hands on some of the things I wanted so had to adapt a bit.  It's also surprisingly pretty for something of mine, and I don't think pretty is particularly  Rebecca's style either!

Rock Gods Swap

Back on UK Scrappers I am taking part in the Rock Gods swap, where the aim is to create a kind of fan club membership pack for my swappee's favourite rock band.  I had to create a pack for Fall out Boy, who I was totoally unfamiliar with until my daughter Gemma played me some of their songs and I realised I did know them after all!

The pack could be made up of a mix of bought and made stuff, with at least two items being made.  I made a membership card, and a minibook with photos of the band members, a potted history and a discography.  I also bought some loose badges, printed off a larger picture on card which I laminated before sticking the badges to it with foam pads and sealing the whole thing in a cellophane card bag. 

I also bought some stickers and a keyring and plectrum set plus a photo which has the band's autographs printed on it.  I thought how to package them, and decided to use a free drawstring bag that came from a show.  This had a logo printed on it which I covered with a photo printed on canvas fabric and stuck on.  Unfortunately the fabric of the bag was thin and the logo could be seen on the inside so I added another piece of canvas to the inside - and then had to paint and stamp over it to hide the logo as it was still obvious! 

I just hope my swappee likes it all!

Home is where the heart is: Gemma's Tin

My daughter Gemma liked the altered mini tins or tinchies I made and received in a swap on UK scrappers last year, and asked me to make one to take to Canada with her to remind her of home.  She has a working visa to stay in Canada for 12 months, and all being well she plans to then move down to the USA for a few months too, so it may be a while before we see her this side of the Atlantic again.

The inside of the tin contains a photo of our house, and an old map of the part of Huntingdonshire where we live.  The little black cat is made from Fimo and represents her 14 year old cat Willow (it even has a tiny bit of his fur baked inside it!  The black bird is of course a crow, and the layered jar contains a pinch of earth from Glastonbury Tor (a 'holy' place) some sand from Great Yarmouth where we spent many happy holidays, and is topped off by a pinch of soil from our garden (for 'home')

I wasn't really happy with how the outside of the tin turned out, but it doesn't really matter.

 



The whole tin is a kind of protective and comforting spell, lets hope it works!

Collage Canvas (Secret Swappers)

A long time ago I took part in a collage swap with other members of the Secret Swappers on UK Scrappers.  I think my pieces should be here somewhere in an earlier post, but it was so long ago I'm not completely sure, and my memory ain't what it used to be!

I finally forced myself to add the pieces I got back from everyone to a 12 x 12 canvas, with a stamped image to fill in the planned gap.  The finished canvas is hanging in my conservatory where I can look at it every day, and I am really pleased how it turned out.

May Calendar Journal

I knew what I wanted to do for this one, but I had to fiddle about sketching it on scrap paper before transferring it into my journal.  It's a bit different to my previous pages, as it was drawn on and then painted, before having stamped flower borders added to add interest;  but at last, here it is!

As you can see, the journalling spaces are on the ribbons of the maypole, so some are a bit limited size-wise!